by Jamie Magee
“She’s smiling at you, not me,” Landen said proudly.
“This kid is going to be walking before the week is over,” Brady said proudly as he gently picked up Allie.
“Don’t say that; she needs to be a baby,” Felicity said, reaching to kiss Allie.
“Listen, we can’t hold her back; I’m not going to make the same mistakes my father made. Allie has an old soul, and we’re going to guide her - not hold her back,” Brady said, looking first at Landen, then to me.
Felicity nodded. She had no intent on holding Allie back; she just wanted her time with her.
“Are you tired?” Landen asked me. I nodded as I felt a yawn come on. Felicity reached for a monitor and handed it to me.
“I don’t want you guys to have to sit in here all night. I’m sure that’s a little boring.” I took the monitor and reached up to kiss Allie goodnight as she lay in her father’s arms. Landen followed me down the hallway.
“I’m going to jump in the shower,” he said, going to our bag before he went to the bathroom that was in our room.
Seeing my sketchbook in the side of the bag, I pulled it out and quickly began to sketch the woman in the field. I even sketched the beautiful girl on the narrow couch. For some reason, the image felt unfinished – like I didn’t see everything I was supposed to. Sketching them didn’t bring me any peace. Landen came out of the bathroom and lay next to me. For a moment, we stared silently at the sketch.
“You have a talent that can’t be expressed. It looks like you took a photo,” he whispered.
“I just want to find her,” I said, lying back on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around me. “There will come a day when we can help them all; we’ve sent our thoughts there,” he said, sure of himself.
“What was August doing here?” I asked.
“He has to help someone travel tomorrow, so he can’t go with us. He said Rose was better at judging Auras than he was anyway,” Landen said, reaching to turn off the lamp.
“If he’d rather travel than go with us, he must not be all that worried,” I said, regretting that I’d canceled on Olivia.
“He is concerned, but there are only a few of us that can go to where he’s going tomorrow. Dad and Jason are going with him, too,” Landen said.
As we drifted off to sleep, we went to the place we always dreamed of, the beautiful silent place. What was odd was that even here we could see the energy glowing off the water, trees, and grass. Even the silent birds seemed to glow. We stayed there until we could feel Allie’s frustration, then we drifted back to Brady and Felicity’s house and reached her just before she woke. I took the pleasure of feeding and changing her. As she lay in my arms, she gazed up at me with pure bliss in her expression. For the first time, Landen asked to hold her, and her smile seemed to brighten; I was sure she saw her father in Landen’s eyes. She drifted to sleep in his arms, and he laid her down just before the sun started to peek over the hilltop.
“Do you want to try and mediate before the others wake?” Landen thought.
I nodded. We woke ourselves up and dressed silently in the dark, careful not to wake Felicity or Brady. We found a spot where the sun had dried the morning dew, slipped off our shoes, and crossed our legs. It seemed like I’d only taken two breaths before I felt connected. I opened my eyes next to my body and looked up to the sky; the sea of pearls was there, just as beautiful as it was the day before. Landen stared in disbelief at the sky as he rested beside his body. We didn’t go anywhere; we just sat beside our bodies and watched the heavens open and a pure light pour through us. It was a breathless wonder. I reached for the flowers next to us and glided my fingers gently through them, feeling their energy; as it moved through me, it moved through Landen.
We stayed in that state for the next hour. When came back to our bodies, the colors around us seemed to be even clearer now, and the white light that surrounded the two of us had widened. I stood and started to walk toward the house.
“Where are you going?” Landen thought.
I turned to him and smiled slyly. “To cook breakfast,” I said, sure of myself.
The grin that spread across his face was breathtaking, and his eyes captured me for a moment. We went through Felicity’s refrigerator and found everything we needed, then he helped set the table and poured glasses of juice. The smell of pancakes and bacon woke Brady and Felicity, and they came down the stairs. Brady was carrying little Allie.
“You guys are up early,” Felicity said, walking to me to see if there was anything that she could do.
“Willow is trying to prove a point,” Landen said proudly.
“What point is that?” Brady asked, handing Allie to Landen.
“That I can cook,” I said over my shoulder.
Felicity elbowed me. “They brought food over three times a day for a solid year when I first came here,” she said under her breath. I grinned, loving Chara more every moment.
“Allie didn’t wake up until, like, five,” I said to Felicity.
“I told you so. She’ll be up all day again...it works for me,” Felicity said.
“I think I’m going to go with you today, Landen” Brady said while he fixed his plate.
“We’ll be fine,” Landen argued.
“Let him go, Landen. He’s to the point of driving me mad; he fixed a jeep last night that wasn’t even broken. You know your mother is going to be here in about five minutes; I’ll be fine.” Felicity said, taking Allie from Landen and putting her in her cradle so we could all eat.
“Beyond the fact that Rose hasn’t been on the string in years, I’d be a nervous wreck thinking of you two gone with two children,” Brady argued.
“You can come - but not to protect me; for your sanity. And you can’t tease or make fun of anything that we do,” Landen said, almost serious.
“What would he tease you about?” Felicity asked, confused.
“Meditating,” Landen said, purposely trying to get Brady in trouble.
Brady kicked Landen under the table.
“You better not tease them. In fact, you need to be taking notes. Libby told me we were all going to learn,” Felicity said, looking sternly at Brady.
Landen and I froze. Olivia’s dream was rushing through our memory, and we always took what Libby said as the truth.
“When did she tell you that?” Landen asked, concerned.
“A week or so ago. I didn’t ask her why; I was too busy trying to make sure you guys were on your way back here,” Felicity said, feeling a little guilty.
Aubrey walked in the back door with Preston at her side. She was carrying a large dish of food. Felicity looked at me and smiled. I tried to hold in my laughter, but the expression Landen was giving me across the table was priceless. Preston ran over to Landen and climbed in his lap.
“You guys are up early. Who cooked?” Aubrey asked as she put the food she brought in the refrigerator.
“Willow,” Landen said, clearing his plate. Aubrey froze as she heard my name, then turned to smile at me. I could feel her confusion as she began to clean the kitchen.
Rose and Libby came a few minutes later. I felt how excited Rose was to travel; it was easy to see that she missed it. We took our jeep to the opening near our house. Inside the string, Landen carried Libby, and Brady carried Preston. We didn’t have far to go; this dimension was only a ten-minute walk from our passage. We stepped in and found ourselves on a rooftop.
“This will be a good place to watch before we go down,” Rose said, walking cautiously to the edge. Landen and I followed her. Brady stayed back, nervous that the kids would fall. I knew they knew better.
“OK, look down here,” Rose said, leaning across the brick wall and looking down.
The streets were busy; people were rushing by, tied up inside themselves. I could see all of their Auras, and they were different from the ones at home; the shapes were not even, and some of them even had dark spots in them.
“Do you see that man down
there in front of the store?” Rose asked. We nodded.
The man had a dark gray Aura around him, and the shape of the energy around him almost looked normal.
“Now, you may think black would be a bad color, but in truth it only means that he’s protecting himself; he doesn’t want to be connected to anyone or anything. It could be that he’s hiding something or that he’s afraid. Now, I can feel him...can you two?” Rose asked.
We nodded. He wasn’t afraid, he was angry.
“So, you can see he’s angry,” Rose said, looking at Landen. “What is his intent?” she asked.
“Revenge,” Landen said in a low tone.
“Well, then, we can assume – and I mean assume, but you can’t read his thoughts – that he’s angry at someone and is protecting himself from the world and will seek revenge. Now, we could watch him all day; if he does seek revenge - or on a better note, makes peace inside himself - then his Aura should change. An Aura is a mirror of the energy you put off,” Rose explained.
“What about that older man? Why does he have dark spots?” Landen asked.
Rose and I followed his stare. The man’s Aura was close to him, and it was a muddy combination of several dark colors. “I would say he’s sick; something inside his body is not working properly. That’s usually what the dark spots mean. A lot of the times, you can see the sickness before the person even knows they’re sick,” Rose explained.
“Is he dying?” I asked, feeling sorry for the man.
“The bodies we have now are all dying. He can heal himself if he wants to, but I can feel his grief. If I were to guess, I’d say he’s lost someone he loves and only wishes to join them,” Rose said. I had a feeling she was right.
“Can we show them how it moves?” Preston said, coming to the side of the roof. Landen cautiously held out his hand to block Preston from coming any closer to the edge. Rose nodded.
“Let’s go down,” she said, turning.
Brady lingered around Landen. “If I meditate, will I be able to see the colors?” he asked Landen.
“I don’t know. We can try to teach you,” Landen answered.
Libby turned around and smiled.
“Not yet,” she said, looking up at Brady. She and Preston giggled a little, and we knew they’d seen something in our future.
“Rose, can you see the light that connects me and Landen?” I asked as we stepped out onto the street. She smiled and nodded.
“Is it love?” I asked.
“It is the bond of true love, the bond that soulmates have.”
“Why is ours so thick? Is it because our love is so new?” Landen asked.
Rose grinned. “Your love is far from new. In my opinion, it represents how well the two of you are connecting as one, the reason your gifts have merged.”
“If there is something connecting the two of you, maybe that’s why you can’t be apart,” Brady said, trying to see it around us.
“There’s a line that connects you and Felicity, and you’re away from her,” Landen argued.
I really didn’t care that it was painful for me to be away from Landen; I knew that it meant he would always be connected to me - with me.
We walked through the streets, watching all the colors. Rose hesitated in front of a construction site. We leaned against the wall and watched the men work. It was easy to see who was in charge: a large man in a yellow hat. His Aura was almost completely red; apparently, he wasn’t happy with the work one of his workers was doing. He walked over to a smaller man who was pouring cement and began to yell. I heard Preston and Libby giggle. As the man yelled, his Aura seemed to dwindle, and his energy was leaving him. I could feel the fear coming from the man he was yelling at; his fear rose, and his green Aura seemed to shrink.
“See? They give it away,” Preston said, looking up at Landen.
“Preston is right. When we’re angry or afraid, it depletes our energy, and we give away what belongs to us,” Rose explained.
“Can you get it back?” I asked, concerned that the people I wanted to help had no energy of their own.
“Love brings it back. A calm mind can, too,” Rose said.
“Love is pretty,” Libby said.
Rose nodded, then we walked on through the streets. We settled at an outside diner in the center of the town. Preston and Libby played around a water fountain that was near the edge of the sidewalk.
As couples walked by, I could see a white line connecting them, connecting their children.
“You see, love is not just in our dimension. When you see people connected in a dimension, you can consider them blessed. It’s not easy to find a pure love. If we couldn’t travel, our dimension wouldn’t exist by now,” Rose said, watching a young couple pass by us.
“How come there’s a glow that connects Brady and Felicity to Allie, but not one that connects us to our parents?” Landen asked.
Brady looked up, surprised by what he heard.
“As Allie grows into an adult, that line will lessen as she comes into her own. If you look really close, you’ll still be able to see a very faint line that connects you to the people that you hold the closest to your heart,” Rose said.
My eyes fell across Landen and Brady, and I could see the faintest of lines joining them. Rose followed my stare.
“They are the only ones you can still see it around without having to really focus,” Rose said to me. Landen and Brady looked at us curiously.
“You guys have one around you,” I said to Landen.
Landen’s eyes looked all around him and Brady. “I don’t see it,” he said, a little disappointed.
“Good. I don’t want to be connected to you; it’s bad enough people call me Landen,” Brady said, teasing Landen.
“Watch,” Rose said, reaching for my arm.
I looked up, and across the street I saw a couple talking. Between them, I could see a faint red glow; it seemed to spread through them, and their Auras grew. “That’s love,” Rose said. I could feel them, and she was right; they were falling in love.
“Love...kindness…it builds you. The more you give, the more you receive. The bad emotions take energy from you.”
“Libby!” Landen screamed.
I looked up. As if in slow motion, I saw Libby stumble as she circled the stone fountain - falling directly into the path of moving cars. Landen stood and reached his hand out. I don’t know how he did it, but he grasped her energy and pulled her back. Her body suspended in mid-air, then in a flash she was in Landen’s arms and he was sitting again. It happened so fast, no one around us even noticed. Our hearts were racing. As calm as he could, Preston came over to Libby and took her hand. They then sat down at the table next to us. Even Rose was covered in shock.
“How did you do that?! How did you do that?!” Brady asked over and over again, trying to get an answer from Landen, but he didn’t know; he was scared and in shock.
Preston and Libby were giggling to themselves. Preston then looked up at Landen and said, “All you did was pull her energy. It’s easy to do; Drake does it all the time.”
I felt the air leave me and my stomach fall to the ground. Landen felt my fear and reached over to pull my chair closer to him. Preston had never said Drake’s name around us; we simply tried to forget that they were brothers.
“That’s how he did what he did,” Brady said, referring to when Drake had thrown Livingston against the wall without even touching him. We had thought he’d used the power of the star...I guess we were wrong.
Landen stood quickly. “Let’s go home,” he said, reaching over to pick up Libby. I reached for Preston’s hand and gave Rose a weary look. She smiled, but I could feel her concern. It was becoming clear that the path before us was broader than we’d ever imagined. For the first time, I was afraid of what I was capable of, of what purpose our new insights would have. Landen reached for my hand, and with his touch I felt a peace course through me. He was so strong; it amazed me how easily he could put the emotions of others befo
re himself.
“Preston, what color is Drake?” Brady asked when we stepped into the passage.
Landen looked back, interested in Preston’s answer.
“Everyone at my old house was either gray or black,” Preston answered, a little sad.
“Everyone?” Rose questioned, thinking of Beth.
“Well, Mommy’s would change when Daddy came to see her, but besides that, there was no color,” Preston said.
Brady reached down, picked Preston up, and carried him the rest of the way home.
When we stepped through the passage to our home, we saw Marc leaning against our jeep. Landen looked back at Brady, telling him to keep quiet; he wasn’t ready to tell Marc what he could do.
I could feel Marc’s jealously; he was trying to hide it. “I woke up this morning, and everyone was gone,” he said, raising his hands and smiling.
Brady sat Preston down and let him run to Marc.
Marc looked at Brady. “So, they have you mediating and stepping into other people’s bodies, too?” he said.
Brady looked at Landen. “Stepping into bodies?” he repeated in shock.
Preston and Libby belted into laughter.
“I haven’t stepped into anyone - yet,” Landen said, winking at me. I knew he wanted to try it; frankly, the thought of it scared me.
“Look man,” Brady said, drawing an invisible box around him. “I don’t care what line connects us, you are not stepping in here - this is my own personal Brady space,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll show you how,” Preston said to Marc.
Marc smiled a crooked smile. “Why don’t we do something simpler, like playing ball or fishing?” he said cautiously. Preston nodded.
“Come, Libby. We’ll find some girl things to do,” Rose said, reaching for her.
Landen was still holding her tightly; it was like he was afraid she would get hurt if he let her go. He kissed her cheek, then Libby wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “I was only trying to teach you; you wouldn’t have believed me if I told you.”
“Next time, try telling me first,” Landen said, smiling a little and hugging her tighter before he sat her down. Preston climbed into Marc’s jeep, and Rose and Libby walked off through the field.
